Another storm in Palmetto Bay: Cody fires back at Merwitzer’s ‘Antifa’ attack

Here we go again. There’s another political tempest brewing in Palmetto Bay — and, once again, it’s  Steve Cody and Vice Mayor Mark Merwitzer at the center of it.
This week, Merwitzer — who has made a second career out of policing Cody’s social media — issued a press release demanding that the councilman remove a post from his personal Facebook page that features a button that says “I am ANTIFA — meaning I am against fascism, as most Americans are. We literally fought a world war over this.”
Yes, really. That’s the scandal of the week in Palmetto Bay.
In his official statement, Merwitzer accused Cody of “publicly declaring association with Antifa,” which he called “a disgraceful reflection of the very extremism our community has worked so hard to rise above.”
The vice mayor doubled down, saying that such rhetoric “has no place in public service and no place in Palmetto Bay.”
And if that wasn’t dramatic enough, he even claimed that Cody’s post “reopened wounds” from just a few weeks ago — when Cody was wrongly reported to have mocked the “tragic assassination” of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk, writing that it was “a fitting sacrifice to our Lords: Smith & Wesson.”
That story, loyal readers will recall, exploded nationally. Cody got hounded into resigning, but refused. It eventually died down.
So, now, this.
Merwitzer says Cody’s new “Antifa” post continues “a troubling pattern of hateful and divisive conduct that has brought shame to Palmetto Bay.” He even called on the councilman to “reflect on the damage he causes.”
Read related: Palmetto Bay councilman is asked to resign after ‘vile’ Charlie Kirk post
Cody, who posted it as his new profile pic, wasn’t having it.
He fired back with his own public statement — titled “Setting the Record Straight — and a Word About Fascism” — calling Merwitzer’s accusations “the blather of a young man who mistakes memes for scholarship.”
In an email to his friends and constituents, Cody explained: “The word ‘antifa’ literally means ‘anti-fascist. My father came ashore at Normandy just after D-Day. He and millions of American soldiers fought actual fascists — the ones flying swastikas and herding millions of Jews into death camps. My dad and the men who fought with him were, in the truest sense, the original Antifa.”
He said his post was not a confession of membership in any “organization,” but a simple statement of principle — that being against fascism, racism, and political violence should not be controversial.
“Merwitzer claims to have a degree in political science,” Cody wrote, “but he apparently slept through the lectures on fascism and democracy — or skipped the ones on decency.”
Zing.
Merwitzer’s press release said Antifa was designated a domestic terrorist organization on September 22, 2025 — through an executive order, not through the State Department or the Justice Department. Why? Because the designation makes no sense. As both former FBI Director Chris Wray and the Congressional Research Service have explained, antifa is not a group or an organization, but “a decentralized movement.” A feeling. A cause. A value.
And it is a global phenomenon, this resistance to a neo-fascism. There has been recent antifa protests in Paris and Dresden, Germany.
“Moreover, the administration has no authority to designate groups as domestic terrorist organizations, as is obvious from the failure to cite any statute or constitutional provision in support of the president’s action. There is none, and the purported designation has no legal effect,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The “terrorist” label against antifa has been tossed around politically for years but never formally applied in law. This backwards administration is only seeking elevate the perceived threat level from left-wing political violence by designating antifa to be a “domestic terrorist organization” — which is cherry-picking to highlight “left-wing” violence exclusively. It seems to completely ignore “high-profile examples of political violence that do not comport with its storyline.”
Read related: Palmetto Bay residents cry for Steve Cody’s resignation, removal or recall
These include the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol; a 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store motivated by white supremacist beliefs; and the deadly 2025 shootings of two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses. That wasn’t antifa. That was just the fa. “Painting this fuller picture, however, would puncture the narrative that political violence is the result of a left-wing conspiracy,” according to the Brennan Center.
So while Merwitzer furthers that narrative and plays prosecutor, Cody is doubling down on his “anti-fascist” stance — saying the real danger is in normalizing the kind of rhetoric that treats opposing fascism as extremism.
And honestly, he’s not wrong.
Because if saying you’re against fascism now counts as controversial, then Palmetto Bay might have bigger problems than Steve Cody’s Facebook feed.
Still, this feud between the councilman and the vice mayor has gone from simmer to full boil. Merwitzer is probably just still upset that Cody sued to disqualify him from voting saying that his swearing in by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins — which already tells you something — wasn’t legitimate because Cohen Higgins is not a notary, clerk or officer of the court. Merwitzer later retook the oath in front of the Palmetto Bay Clerk and then signed the oath on a separate day.
Because of that gap between recitation and signing, Cody argues Merwitzer’s swearing-in did not count and he is not an actual member of the town council. He reminds Mark every chance he gets.
Meanwhile, residents are rolling their eyes at yet another round of political drama while village business takes a back seat.
Cody says he’ll keep “focusing on facts, good governance, and treating residents with respect.” Merwitzer says he’s defending the community’s values.
But Ladra says: enough already. Maybe they should both log off social media for a week and remember they’re supposed to be running a town, not a Twitter war.
Because Palmetto Bay doesn’t need another press release. It needs a ceasefire.

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